★ ★ ★ ★

Reviewer - Becky

*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review

It’s that time again at The Dominion for some Summer Nights and Grease Lightin’ as Grease returns for a second run in London’s West End after a successful summer showing last year.

I love the theming of the theatre even before the show starts. You’re greeted with a small radio playing all the old tunes from the 5’s accompanied by a screen of vintage TV sets playing old clips from the same time period, which really gets you in the mood for the show! This theme continues throughout the performance with an excellent use of props and an extravagant set design (Colin Richmond), that they used to their full advantage. There was never an empty space which is hard to do with such a large stage such as the one at the Dominion.

With Olivia Moore, Dan Partridge and Jocasta Almgill reprising their roles as Sandy, Danny & Rizzo alongside a lot of newcomers and West End debuts such as Solomon Davy as Kenickie and Katie Brace as Jan, the collective of them all was a delight. The chemistry however between the main couple Danny and Sandy always felt a little off in places when they were on the stage on their own together. The love they’re supposed to feel for one another almost felt forced and ironically quite scripted, it didn’t come across as very natural.

Jocasta’s part as Rizzo however, is electric and hypnotic. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her whether she had a central part on stage or behind the scenes. She gives a sassy but empathetic take on the iconic role, doing it absolute justice, it’s no surprise she’s returned to the character. Her rendition of ‘There Are Worse Things I Could Do’ is heart-wrenchingly beautiful.

‘Greased Lightnin’’ was the highlight of the show for me, fantastically choreographed by Arlene Phillips and Richard Roe, you really have to glue your butt to your seat to not get up and dance on stage with them. I loved that this song allowed Kenickie to shine instead of the usual movie take of it being centred around Danny.

It’s important to note there are a lot of changes within the script, music and placement of the scenes throughout. We don’t even have the “T-Birds” anymore. We now have “The Burger Palace Boys” which definitely doesn’t have the same cool ring to it, unfortunately. Nikolai Foster has directed a production which uses Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey’s script which was created before the success of the hit movie that many audiences will be hoping to see. There are differences and similarities between the pair and it’s important to distinguish between the two on your visit. ‘We Go Together’ is thrown in at the end of Act 1 and ‘Hopelessly Devoted To You’ seems out of place when it begins also. So the story did become a little messy at times and I can’t see how much it would have affected the show if they’d have kept the songs in their original places.

This all being said Grease is essentially just a good time at the theatre. It’s nostalgic, it’s upbeat, positive and most importantly we get a chance to sing along at the end. So definitely hold out for the megamix! Yes, there were some cringeworthy moments but the film does this also and I think the target audience for this show will be pleased with the energy it brings. It’s a fresh take on an old classic and there’s a reason it’s returned for another glorious summer at The Dominion.